There Is No Single Instant In Time

tekkieRich writes "Some interesting news from the world of physics. Supposedly, in this paper, the author answers some of the major paradoxes (achilles vs. the turtle and Zeno) concerning our understanding of time. 'Impressed with the work is Princeton physics great, and collaborator of both Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman, John Wheeler, who said he admired Lynds' "boldness," while noting that it had often been individuals Lynds' age that "had pushed the frontiers of physics forward in the past."'"

Comments

So when was this article posted???

[Anonymous Coward]

There Is No Single Instant In Time

Posted by timothy on Sunday August 03, @03:46AM
from the all-is-flux dept.

new paradox ??

[Timesprout]

A similar paradox, called the Dichotomy, stipulates that you can never reach your goal, as in order to get there, you must firstly travel half of the distance. But once you've done that, you must still traverse half the remaining distance, and half again, and so on. What's more, you can't even get started, as to travel a certain distance, you must firstly travel half of that distance, and so on.

I always thought the reason you could never get started on the way to your goal was the 'trying to get a woman to go some place when you have been ready and waiting for ages' paradox

Re:new paradox ??

[Mike Schiraldi]

Reminds me of a joke. Philosopher and engineer are in a bar when in walks a gorgeous woman. Engineer says, "I'm going to go talk to her. I resolve that i'm gonna [ you know what ] with her tonight." Philosopher says, "Actually, that's impossible. In order to touch her, you'll have to first cross to the point midway between the two of you. And then you'll have to get to the point midway from there. And so on. You can never actually reach her."

And the engineer says, "I'll get close enough."

Re:Nothing new under the sun

[Edward Scissorhands]

Heh, yeah, right, like we want our scientists to pay attention to philosophy. You know what would happen then, right? Scientists would realise that they actually know far less about the world than they realise and they'd all move to a cabin in the woods and write strange and impenetrable poetry instead of staying in the lab and coming up with useful theories which engineers can then use to create an even better dishwasher.

Listen, bub, we need people to design our machines and technology can't improve without a better understanding of our physical world. I want my flying cars, damnit, and no stinkin' philosopher is going to expose the hard questions to vulnerable scientists and engineers to distract them from making my dishwasher!

Re:Groundbreaking?

[Anonymous Coward]

Believe it or not, the whole paper-refereeing scene isn't that much different from the Slashdot moderation system.

Has any referee ever sent a paper back and scrawled on it: "J00 f4gg0t! If I ever meet j00 I will kick your ass!"

You are mistaken, sir.

[deathcow]

This article was posted on fark sometime between 0.99999... and 1.0 weeks ago.

Re:Academia is a pain in the ass.

[Alsee]

my entire CS Masters was about a program design paradigm with highly esoteric underpinnings and very little mathematical substance - on the other hand it was well funded!

I am on the college committee that controls your funding. I regret to inform you that based on your post I have decided to vote against renewing your project.

Thank you for the information. Have a nice day.

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